This is a photo of a photojournalist taking pictures at the scene of the recent F-18 crash in Virginia. She’s got at least 2 SLR-type cameras and 3 telephoto lenses that we can see, but in the photo, she’s taking a picture with a mobile phone, leading to the funny meme caption.

With all those fancy cameras at her disposal, why is she taking pictures with a phone? Probably because it can do what her cameras can’t: quickly send a photo, whether it’s to the news organization she’s working for, or quickly post it online.

Once again, I’m reminded of William Gibson’s quote from the short story Burning Chrome: “The street finds its own uses for things,” and that’s certainly the case for mobile tech.

There could be another reason for grabbing a cell phone photo. On the few occasions I am shooting for a client, they own all the shots I take with my gear. I sometimes grab a shot with my cell, for me, as a status update, or just a momento of the event.

There isn’t a really good way (that I have found) to get photos from a professional SLR onto your phone. I would pay up to $150 for a dongle that did that. SLRs take the best pictures, but you have to get to a computer to actually share them. I want a way to, in a iOS camera app, choose “SLR” as a source, snap a photo, and have it appear on the phone for instant sharing.

Mark Jaquith: I’m pretty surprised that there isn’t some kind of Bluetooth- or other wireless way to easily transmit a photo from a DLSR to a phone, even if at reduce quality or size. Maybe that will come as point-and-shoot cameras slowly vanish as they get subsumed by smartphones.

Joey deVilla: There is indeed such a thing: http://www.eye.fi/ … it’ll send to your phone, ipad, tablet or computer.

My take on using a cell phone camera is this: He seems to have long lenses on his SLR cameras. If he wanted a quick wide angle shot, a cell phone gives that without taking time to change lenses. Low quality and get the shot beats high quality and miss it, IMHO.

I think my sister will get a kick outta this.. Those things around her neck are no longer camera’s photography devises, they are simply the badge she wears that indicates to others that she is in fact, a professional. Seems like a lot of work, considering a press badge would likely do the trick.